Tag: formulas

When Your Formula Doesn’t Work: Formula Parse Errors in Google Sheets

Whether you’re just starting out with Google Sheets or are a seasoned pro, sooner or later one of your formulas will give you a formula parse error message rather than the result you want.

It can be frustrating, especially if it’s a longer formula where the formula parse error may not be obvious.

In this post, I’ll explain what a Google Sheets formula parse error is, how to identify what’s causing the problem, and how to fix it.

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How To Apply Conditional Formatting Across An Entire Row In Google Sheets

Conditional formatting is a super useful technique for formatting cells in your Google Sheets based on whether they meet certain conditions.

In this post, you’ll learn how to apply conditional formatting across an entire row of data in Google Sheets.

For example, if the continent is “Africa” in column C, you can apply the background formatting to the entire row (as shown by 1 and 2):

Conditional formatting across an entire row

A template with all these examples is available at the end of this post.

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Build Numbered Lists With The Amazing SEQUENCE Function

The SEQUENCE function is a useful function in Google Sheets. It’s a powerful way to generate numbered lists.

SEQUENCE Function Syntax

=SEQUENCE(rows, columns, start, step)

As arguments for the SEQUENCE function, you specify 1) the number of rows, 2) the number of columns, 3) a start value, and 4) a step size.

Arguments 2, 3, and 4 are optional. However, if you want to set them you need to include the previous ones (e.g. if you want to set a step size in argument 4, then you need to set 1, 2, and 3 as well).

Keep this order in mind as you look through the examples below and you’ll soon understand how the function works.

1. Ascending list of numbers

=SEQUENCE(5)

=SEQUENCE(5)

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How I Used Google Forms, AI, and Apps Script Automation to Analyze 1,700 Survey Responses

This post describes how I designed and ran an audience survey with over 1,700 responses, using Google Forms, Sheets, Apps Script, and ChatGPT. I’ll show you the entire process from end-to-end, including how I:

  1. Created a survey with Google Forms
  2. Used Apps Script to automatically say thank you to 1,700 respondents
  3. Analyzed the response data in Google Sheets
  4. Used AI to help me understand the qualitative data
  5. Presented the results in Google Docs

This flowchart shows how the system is set up:

Survey Flow Chart
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The LEN Function in Google Sheets

The LEN function in Google Sheets is a simple but useful function that counts the number of characters in a given string.

Basic LEN Function Google Sheets

If you’re working with text data in spreadsheets then you’re likely to use the LEN function. It becomes particularly powerful when combined with other functions to manipulate and analyze strings.

🔗 Grab the LEN template at the bottom of this article.

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